TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Long-wave of Baby Boomer retirement has started according to long-wave demographics expert Edward Cheung, author of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles: North American Long-waves. The number of people over 65 years of age has started to grow at an increasing rate in 2007, compared to a declining rate in the previous decade. This shift in market forces will have a significant impact on the stock market, the housing market and the economy. This is not a good time to be in the midst of a credit crunch.
The changing rates of population growth have had a direct impact on society throughout history. When Baby Boomers were young, this largest age group of society was interested in rock music and in civil rights. Then as Baby Boomers got older, they entered the workforce and began accumulating wealth. Society's interest therefore shifted to investments and to owning large homes. One of the results of this change in interest is the growth of the mutual fund industry, the stock market boom and the housing boom. Now that Baby Boomers are entering retirement, our social and economic systems will be undergoing some very significant adjustments to accommodate these changes. As the focus of the leading edge of Baby Boomers shifts from investing to retirement, pension funding, health care and social security will become more critical.
According to the author, there have been several waves of baby booms throughout North America's history. There is much that we can learn from the past. The impact of these baby booms can be found in our social history and in the social, economic and political statistics throughout the last 200 years. Interest rates, crime rates and wage increases have not been this low in 40 years. Inflation has not been this low since the 1930s. In fact, 1999 was the first decennial deflationary year since the 1930s. "There is much that we can learn from how previous generations coped with pensions and retirement, and the problems that they encountered," says the author, "and we may have to take the lessons of history as guidance for ourselves."
Chapter 1 of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles: North American Long-waves can be downloaded from the following link:
http://www.longwavepress.com/Baby_Boomers_Generation_X_SCv1a.pdf
Baby Boomers, Generation X and Social Cycles, Volume 1: North American Long-waves is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million and other fine book retailers.
ISBN: 9781896330006